Canadian Market Set To End On Buoyant Note

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up firmly Friday afternoon and looks well on course to end the day's session on a buoyant note, with stocks from across several sectors holding firm thanks to sustained buying interest.

Technology stocks are turning in a fine performance, lifting the Information Technology Capped Index up by about 2.55%. Financials, energy, healthcare, industrials and real estate stocks are the other major gainers.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 334.31 points or 1.38% at 24,537.54 with less than an hour to go for the closing bell.

NFI Group shares are up more than 20%. The company reported fourth quarter net earnings of $18.6 million, an increase of $20.9 million. Net earnings per share came in at $0.16.

Telesat Corporation is zooming 14% and Mattr Corp is up 13%. Celestica, Dayforce, goeasy, Shopify Inc., Cargojet, Calian Group, ATS Corporation, iA Financial Corporation, Teck Resources and Kinaxis are up 3 to 6%.

Wheaton Precious Metals gained about 1%. The company reported adjusted net earnings of $198.97 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with $164.57 million a year ago.

Brookfield Corporation, FirstService Corporation, Fairfax Financial Holdings, WSP Global, Methanex Corp., Brookfield Asset Management, Bombardiers and Toromont Industries are also up with strong gains.

BCE, Quebecor Inc., Seabridge Gold, Endeavour Mining, Tourmaline Oil Corp. and Tecsys Inc. are down 1.4 to 4%.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales in Canada rose 1.7% month-over-month in January 2025, following an upwardly revised 0.5% increase in the prior month. This marked the fourth consecutive month of increases in manufacturing sales.

Wholesale sales in Canada rose by 1.2% from the previous month in January of 2025, revised lower from the preliminary estimate of 1.8% but picking up from the 0.3% increase in the earlier period.

New Motor Vehicle Sales in Canada decreased to 121,628 units in January from 135,511 units in December of 2024. It is the lowest level in about a year.